At my placements, there is a wide range of the GOS being played. In the middle school, it isn't as prominent, but there are some students who have figured out that there is a game, and they can "beat" the system. In the high school, the level of game playing is much different even between the 9th and 10th graders. The 9th graders plays the game by "brown-nosing" and doing what they think the teacher wants them to do. And the teacher knows this, so she uses this to her advantage while she teaches. If they misbehave or aren't staying on task, she plays the "you guys are such freshmen" card and that straightens them up, surprisingly. The 10th graders know what they have to do to just get by in class. If my CT asks them to write a summary with at least 7 sentences, they will write those 7 sentences and nothing more. If they need to take notes, they write down only what's on the powerpoint and won't expand on it if my teacher gives another example. Because the students are just doing enough to "get by," my CT recognizes this so he actively is trying to motivate them to do more and than just the bare minimum.
Knowing how the different grade levels play the Game of School, I think this will help me, first of all to recognize when the game is being played, and then find a way to move away from this game and go back to the focus on learning. There needs to be a way to teach the older kids how to NOT play the game and then that will trickle down to the younger kids who model their school behavior off of the upperclassmen. Taking the focus back to school, and back to learning, I think it would help minimize the need to even play the game. If teachers don't play the game, hopefully the students will realize they have no one to play against. But that's only in my perfect world...
Knowing how the different grade levels play the Game of School, I think this will help me, first of all to recognize when the game is being played, and then find a way to move away from this game and go back to the focus on learning. There needs to be a way to teach the older kids how to NOT play the game and then that will trickle down to the younger kids who model their school behavior off of the upperclassmen. Taking the focus back to school, and back to learning, I think it would help minimize the need to even play the game. If teachers don't play the game, hopefully the students will realize they have no one to play against. But that's only in my perfect world...